My thanks to zoulas and sargeant for their thoughtful responses. I decided not to buy the John Deere 320, but instead bought a 1995 Simplicity Sunstar 18 hp with 48" deck and plow for $1,600. Allegedly, this tractor has only 75 hours on it. The story is that the original owner had it for a couple of years, using it only for mowing, and then died. It sat for a number of years before being acquired by the guy I bought it from, who has a small engine repair business. He went through it, cleaned the carbs, etc., and then used it to plow his driveway. He had a Honda tractor he prefered for mowing. Now he has a snowblower for the Honda, and the Sunstar was just taking up space. He advertised it for awhile at $2,800 but got no responses, so he accepted $1,600 from me. Maybe I got took--we'll see. It looks new enough to have only 75 hours.

My only intention in my posting is to maybe help the next person along in their search of a lawn tractor or learn a bit about them for myself. Whether it be green, orange, blue, red or black. I don't think anyone disagrees with the fact that quality is not what it used to be, even with the advancements in technology. I wish, like most other americans out there, that we still manufactured everything here in the states. But that is a long distant memory and will probably never be again. But I bought a John Deere because the one I had before it lasted, and the farm I grew up on had plently of them that did their share of breaking, but got the job done everytime. But so did the Case, Internationals, Massey's, and I think a New Holland. Every manufacturer out there has it's share of problems. Nothings perfect! John Deere has been in my blood since childhood when I played with my first little green toy. Everytime I get on my X530, I will be proud to have one. People don't usually buy Harley Davidsons because of their quality (although I feel them to be very well built). They buy them because of the name that sits on them. If John Deere stops making a good product, the brand would eventually suffer and only be found in the history books and a few landscapes maybe. But when I drive anywhere, it is still the brand I see most often, and usually they are moving. So, drafted 72, your opinion is noted and hopefully a few people may benefit from your experience, but a GT235 and a X530 are a bit far apart in the ways they are used. I have no doubts that mine will still be alive and well in 15 years. And if I have any problems, I will be sure to post them, so the next person at least can use the info to decide if the JD brand is right for them.

5 years ago, I bought a new JD L110 with a 17.5 hp Kohler engine and a 42" mulching deck for about $1750 from a JD Dealer to cut my 1.5 acre up hill bumpy lawn with a septic field up top. I got it because Consumer Reports had said that it was the best all-around for the dollar. It worked great with a beautiful cut until the septic field and a contractors fertilizing made the grass so tough, the engine bogged down as if it was gonna stall, especially over the septic field, and really bad if I missed a week due to rain. By the way I threw away the $200 double bag grass catcher because I got tired of getting off the tractor and dumping them every 7.5 minutes. I went to a Kubota dealer to find out what a real tractor was and how I couldnÂt afford one, but some farmer had traded in his JD G110 w/ a 25 hp Kohler engine and a 54" mowing deck I bought it used, with no warranty for $2000, and at first was happier the way it had no problems with the thickness of the lawn. It also carried my over 300 lb. body uphill and cut much faster in that it turned my 1 hour and fifteen minute weekly task into about 50 minutes. The blue smoke the used G110 was blowing when I test drove it was to mean later that I had to put about 3 to 4 hundred dollars into it for repair, and apparently, I was lucky, because it could have been much worse! It seemed the farmer, believe it or not, didn't change the oil much. But the main problem was that with the 54" deck it had did not cut the grass as nice as the smaller 42" deck with the rounded mulching platform. It made "Wind Rows" that did not seem to go away even after going back over it again, because my grass grew so fast or something. A salesman told me I may have to cut it twice a week (NO WAY). So, bottom line, it was taking longer to get the grass cut with a 54" deck than with the earlier 42" deck; almost twice as long and it STILL didnÂt look as nice as before! I added a mulching kit to it, installed by the dealer, even after their warning that I may get clumping. I did get clumping, and my wife never lets me hear the end of itÂ..The tension spring on the belt/pulley system broke 2 weeks ago and I went to the dealerÂs parts dept. and bought another one for $6 because their Spring back-log for repairs was over 2 weeks wait. I spent about 3 hours getting it on the deck. This new spring worked for two mowings and broke. Now, with rain, I have monster grass and no way to mow it. My wife almost bought a $2000 Cub Cadet at a box store out of desperation yesterday just to get the grass cut. So now, 5 years into this monster lawn, and two JDÂs later, we are looking at our 3rd one, an X300 or X304, to solve my weekly woes on this lumpy lawn. Oh yeah, by the way, when it was graded, the man did not do a very smooth job and my back and I wish my tractor had shock absorbers, but we can not afford the Kubota, or a real John Deere. I will probably trade in the G110 for a X304 next weekend, and peeve that I am trading down from a 25 hp Kohler w/ 54" deck to a 22 hp Kohler w/ a 48" deck, albeit in the new "stronger" X Series, but my wife wonÂt mind, because there will be no more "Wind Rows" and clumping (HOPEFULLY!). She doesnÂt have to do itÂ.she naps on the couch while I mow! I guess sheÂll nap a little longer, because I will be out there a little longer now. I hope the clumping and rows go away then, and I really hope to have less annoying repairs. I imagine, though, that they all use the same spring. Wish me luck if you have no good advice I can use.

This is my first time on here, so I don't exactly know how to post so here goes. My JD-425 has a flooding problem. Sometimes it runs ok, and sometimes not. When I turn on the ignition, the fuel pump starts (as normal) and I can usually start it. Then, after running for a while, it begins flooding. This is between 15 minutes and half an hour most of the time. I can keep it running if I go full throttle and have the tractor under load, like mowing grass, but there is so much gas entering the carb that there is a bit of black smoke as well. If I stop it and remove the air cleaner, and look into the carb, there is gas everywhere. Here is what I did so far... The carb was new 3 years ago. But I removed it, and took it apart (did this 3 times). Each time I took it apart and put it back together, I know I did it right because the machine started and ran as noted above. I thought it just might be plugged or something. The first time I took it apart I also replaced the electric solenoid valve, just to be sure. And I know it works, because I saw it operating with the carb disassembled. Then, I thought it might be that the float valve was leaking or perhaps the floats had a hole and was full of gas. All was good. When the carb was back together, I blew into the fuel hose when the carb was full of gas and proved that the float valve was working. Hmmm. There is a manual in-line fuel shutoff valve, so what I did was throttle it back so that it would take 30 seconds to to let about an ounce of fuel out. Full blast, the pump actually pumps a lot of fuel. This time, I was able to keep the machine from flooding too bad. And was able to mow the 1 acre of grass I have. Today, however was different. It ran for about 5 minutes, then began to act up. I turned it off, removed the air cleaner and looked into the carb. When I turn the ignition switch on, (not engaging the starter) I can see tons of gas coming out of every carb orifice, flooding into the engine gas everywhere. This is without the engine running. The only thing I can come up with is that the fuel pump for some unknown reason has too much pressure behind it. Another wierd thing is that when I turn a sharp corner, under the flooding condition, the flooding gets noticably worse. Any ideas anyone? Is there a pressure regulator somewhere in the fuel pump line? Thanks.